Magnus ambles through the house, taking his time making his way toward the others calling for him. He stopped to quickly examine the bodies one more time, he walked around them, viewing them from all angles, searching for any familiar pattern.

When he was finally satisfied, he joined the others at the fireplace. As he arrived his eyes lit up at the sight of the previously undiscovered doorway. He immediately fell into examining it with rapt attention, after some time he seems satisfied to move beyond it. Tapping his staff against the floor, setting the keys a jingling, a strange light erupted from the top, bathing the surrounding area in swimming, swirling bands of white and green and blue.

ooc

Where the bodies laying in any particular pattern?

Also, if it's ok, I would like to step outside the skill challenge for a moment and test Magnus' knowledge regarding the patterns cut into the bodies of the victims.

ooc: So I've got Vixo in front scouting, Morvannon and Magnus in the middle somewhere. Grakk in the back. Kamotz behind Vrrsk't, who is suggested to be near the front with a light. So: Vixo, Vrrsk't, Kamotz, Magnus, Morvannon, Grakk? Vixo is scouting, Vrrsk't has a light of some kind (what?), Magnus has light on his staff, and Morvannon has a sunrod. Sound right?

Magnus

The cuts are clustered in four groups on each body, around the heart, hands, face, and genitals. All of the cuts are fairly shallow, and the likely cause of death in all cases was probably exsanguination. Though the cuts on the bodies are quite deliberate and carefully placed in the same places on all the bodies, they are not clean. Rather, they are ragged and bloody, as though made with a serrated blade. There are bruises around the wrists and knees on all the bodies, as if the victims were held down to prevent struggling, though hitches and jagged cuts hint that these efforts weren't entirely successful.

These patterns of cuts are consistent with rituals where the pain of the victim is part of the goal. There are a number of such rituals, devoted to the darker cults and minor deities. In some of the rituals, the only purpose is to please whatever fiendish master the celebrant serves, but in others, the ritual is used to harvest something from the victims. The careful nature of the cuts points to the latter kind of ritual. Given that all the organs and limbs are present, and it doesn't appear that any effort was made to collect the blood, it is likely that whatever was harvested in this case was intangible.

The bodies aren't arranged in any particular way that you can determine; they seem to have been casually dumped where they lay, once they were dead.

Grakk finishes inspecting his gear, get's up an moves towards the fireplace. He stares down the enterence to the steps and listens. He pauses for a few moments, turns to the group and says "Is everyone ready? If so, let's go."

A dozen narrow stairs down, the stairway turns on itself and widens, becoming more comfortable for those of you in armor. Another dozen steps end in a plain wooden door. A faint reddish glow can be seen around the door, which is slightly ajar. It opens with a touch, swinging quietly inward, and inundating you with the scent of brimstone.

The room is a large, square, stone-floored chamber, with a high ceiling of paneled wood. There are shelves around the edge of the room, as well as a low slab of stone that could be either desk or altar, depending on the nearby furnishings. It currently seems to be firmly in altar mode. But the dominant feature of the room is a large, glowing red diagram in the center of the floor, roughly circular, and rather thoroughly occupied.

The circle's occupant stands some nine feet tall, with black, curving horns extending another half foot above. Its hide is a deep gray, striated with black and red ridges that cover its thickly muscled body. It is roughly humanoid, standing upright on two clawed feet, and carrying in one hand a massive hammer of black iron. Its other hand it flexes restlessly, long black claws scything the air in anticipation. It stands naked, save for a loincloth of black metal plates hung from an iron chain around its waist. Its face is hard to make out, as it is shrouded in shadows with no obvious source, save for its burning red eyes, and the occasional reflection off of sharp, ebony fangs. It faces the far corner of the room, and looks toward you over its shoulder as you enter, but makes no other movement.

"What? Who goes there? Don't come any closer, or I'll break the circle, and this thing will kill us all!" The voice comes from the far corner, where a human figure struggles to his feet. He is a middle-aged man, of average height and lean build, and bears a slight resemblance to the childrens' bodies from upstairs. He wears a robe of dark red, belted at the waist with a silver chain, and a fine cloak. His eyes are deeply bloodshot, with dark circles beneath them, as though he has been awake for far too long.

Grakk steps in and looks at the statue. His heart starts to pump rapidly, not in fear, but they way that he feels before battle. He smiles, gripping his sword with both hands, ready to attack. Finally, a worthy foe! I'd be honored to fight you to the death, fiend!. He then hears the voice of the human. It takes all of his will not to step foward, calling the human's bluff. "What is this all about human! Speak quickly and don't lie. If you do, I'll know. I don't act kindly to those who cross me."

The wizard's face spasms with guilt and pain and frustrated rage, at the mention of the family upstairs. His hands shake as he holds his staff near the circle, ready to break it. "Who do I work for? I live here! This is my house! Who do you work for, murderers?"